An apparatus for filling open-ended containers with free-flowing powdered or granular material is well-known. These powdered or granular materials include a broad range of food products, including, milk products, condiments, tea, coffee, sugar, salt, cocoa, rice and seeds, as well as a general chemical line, including, cleansers, detergents, insecticides, drain and bowl cleaners, lyes, crystals, and the like. An apparatus of this general type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,849,033, issued Aug. 26, 1958, to John R. Nalbach. Apparatus of this general type has found a wide range of acceptance in the food industry, chemical industry, and cosmetic industry, for packaging all manner of dry materials. In the course of the operation of the prior art apparatus, a problem has occurred when the containers to be filled have a relatively narrow diameter. The problem is that the apparatus (which has a measuring flask for determining the volume of material to be placed in the container) does not become filled with the material. In the course of the operation of the apparatus (which depends upon a gravity feed of the material into the measuring flask), bridging occurs over the flask, so that the powdered or granular material does not flow freely axially along the measuring flask.